Tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a new and distinct hybrid variety of tomato, NUN 09015 TOF.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of plant breeding and, morespecifically, to the development of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF (alsodesignated as NUN 09015 or NUN 09015 TOF).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The goal of vegetable breeding is to combine various desirable traits ina single variety/hybrid. Such desirable traits may include greateryield, resistance to diseases, insects or other pests, tolerance to heatand drought, better agronomic quality, higher nutritional value,enhanced growth rate and improved fruit properties.

Breeding techniques take advantage of a plant's method of pollination.There are two general methods of pollination: a plant self-pollinates ifpollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower ofthe same genotype. A plant cross-pollinates if pollen comes to it from aflower of a different genotype.

Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for a uniform typeover many generations become homozygous at almost all gene loci andproduce a uniform population of true breeding progeny of homozygousplants. A cross between two such homozygous plants of differentvarieties produces a uniform population of hybrid plants that areheterozygous for many gene loci. The extent of heterozygosity in thehybrid is a function of the genetic distance between the parents.Conversely, a cross of two plants each heterozygous at a number of lociproduces a segregating population of hybrid plants that differgenetically and are not uniform. The resulting non-uniformity makesperformance unpredictable.

The development of uniform varieties requires the development ofhomozygous inbred plants, the crossing of these inbred plants, and theevaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection areexamples of breeding methods that have been used to develop inbredplants from breeding populations. Those breeding methods combine thegenetic backgrounds from two or more plants or various other broad-basedsources into breeding pools from which new lines are developed byselfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new lines are evaluatedto determine which of those have commercial potential. One crop specieswhich has been subject to such breeding programs and is of particularvalue is the tomato.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum and closely related species) is naturally adiploid and the basic chromosome number of the genus is x=12, most are2n=2x=24, including the cultivated ones. It originated in the New Worldand has since become a mayor food crop. In 2012, FAOSTAT estimated worldproduction at over 160 million tonnes.

Tomato cultivars may be grouped by maturity, i.e. the time required fromplanting the seed to the stage where fruit harvest can occur. Standardmaturity classifications include ‘early’, ‘midseason’ or late-maturing’.Another classification for tomatoes is the developmental timing of fruitset. ‘Determinant’ plants grow foliage, then transition into areproductive phase of flower setting, pollination and fruit development.Consequently, determinant cultivars have a large proportion of the fruitripen within a short time frame. Growers that harvest only once in aseason favor determinant type cultivars. In contrast, ‘indeterminate’types grow foliage, then enter a long phase where flower and fruitdevelopment proceed along with new foliar growth. Growers that harvestthe same plants multiple times favor indeterminate type cultivars. Inresponse to more recent consumer demands for dietary diversity, tomatobreeders have developed a wider range of colors. In addition toexpanding the range of red colored fruits, there are cultivars thatproduce fruits that are creamy white, lime green, yellow, green, golden,orange and purple. Additionally, there are multi-colored varietiesexemplified by mainly red fruited varieties with green shoulders, andboth striped- and variegated-colored fruit.

The fruits of tomato plants which are more suitable for processing aregenerally red colored and have pink to red/crimson fruit flesh.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns seed of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF, wherein arepresentative sample of said seed has been deposited under AccessionNumber NCIMB 42622. The tomato seed of the invention may be provided asan essentially homogeneous population of tomato seed. Therefore, seed ofthe invention may be defined as forming at least about 97% of the totalseed, including at least about 98%, 99% or more of the seed. Thepopulation of tomato seed may be particularly defined as beingessentially free from other seed. The seed population may be separatelygrown to provide an essentially homogeneous population of tomato plantsaccording to the invention. Also encompassed are plants grown from seedsof tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF and plant parts thereof.

In another aspect the invention provides for a hybrid variety of S.lycopersicum called NUN 09015 TOF. The invention also provides for aplurality of seeds of the new variety, plants produced from growing theseeds of the new variety NUN 09015 TOF, and progeny of any of these.Especially, progeny retaining one or more (or all) of the“distinguishing characteristics” or one or more (or all) of the“essential morphological and physiological characteristics” oressentially all physiological and morphological characteristics of NUN09015 TOF referred to herein, are encompassed herein as well as methodsfor producing these.

In one aspect, such progeny have all the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF when grown under thesame environmental conditions. In another aspect such progeny have allthe physiological and morphological characteristics as listed in Table 1as tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF when measured under the sameenvironmental conditions (i.e. evaluated at significance levels of 1%,5% or 10% significance, which can also be expressed as a p value).

In another aspect a plant of the invention or said progeny plantshas/have 1, 2, 3, 4 or more or all of the distinguishingcharacteristics: 1) average length of mature fruit (stem axis) of 58.9to 65.1 mm; 2 average diameter of mature fruit (at widest point) of 44.6to 49.4 mm; 3) average weight of mature fruit of 67.7 to 74.9 gram; 4)average number of locules of 1.96 to 2.17; 5) an average number offlowers in inflorescence of 7.3 to 8.1; 6) average number of nodesbetween early inflorescence of 6.2 to 6.9 7) typical fruit shape of type7; 8) an average length of dedicel (from joint to calyx attachment) of14.8 to 16.4 mm; 9) pubescence on younger stems of type 3—moderatelyhairy and 10) a type 3—nippled shape of blossom end, in addition to 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or more, or all of the other (average) characteristics aslisted in Table 1.

Further, a tomato fruit produced on a plant grown from these seeds isprovided.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, a plant having one, two orthree physiological and/or morphological characteristics which aredifferent from those of NUN 09015 TOF and which otherwise has all thephysiological and morphological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF aslisted in Table 1, wherein a representative sample of seed of varietyNUN 09015 TOF has been deposited under Accession Number NCIMB 42622, isprovided.

Further, a vegetatively propagated plant of variety NUN 70038 PPH, or apart thereof, is provided having all the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of NUN 09015 TOF when grown under the same environmentalconditions.

Also a plant part derived from variety NUN 70038 is provided, whereinsaid plant part is selected from the group consisting of: fruit,harvested fruit, parts of fruits, leaf, pollen, ovule, cell, part of aleaf, petioles, shoots or parts thereof, stems or parts thereof, rootsor parts thereof, cuttings, seeds, hypocotyl, cotyledon, flowers orparts thereof, scion, scion, stock, rootstock and flower. Fruits areparticularly important plant parts.

DEFINITIONS

“Tomato” refers herein to plants of the species Solanum lycopersicum, ora closely related species, and fruits thereof. Solanum lycopersicum, isalso known as Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) H. Karst. or Lycopersiconesculentum Mill.

“Cultivated tomato” refers to plants of Solanum lycopersicum, or aclosely related species, i.e. varieties, breeding lines or cultivars ofthe species S. lycopersicum as well as crossbreds thereof, or crossbredswith other Solanum species, cultivated by humans and having goodagronomic characteristics; preferably such plants are not “wild plants”,i.e. plants which generally have much poorer yields and poorer agronomiccharacteristics than cultivated plants and e.g. grow naturally in wildpopulations. “Wild plants” include for example ecotypes, PI (PlantIntroduction) lines, landraces or wild accessions or wild relatives ofSolanum and related species.

The terms “tomato plant designated NUN 09015 TOF”, “NUN 09015”, “09015TOF” or “variety designated 09015 TOF” are used interchangeably hereinand refer to a tomato plant of variety NUN 09015 TOF, representativeseed of which having been deposited under Accession Number NCIMB 42622.

“Tissue culture” refers to a composition comprising isolated cells ofthe same or a different type or a collection of such cells organizedinto parts of a plant. Tissue culture of various tissues of tomato andregeneration of plants therefrom is well known and widely published(see, e.g., Bhatia et al. (2004), Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture78: 1-21. Similarly, the skilled person is well-aware how to prepare a“cell culture”.

“UPOV descriptors” are the plant variety descriptors described fortomato in the “Guidelines for the Conduct of Tests for Distinctness,Uniformity and Stability, TG/44/10 (Geneva 2001), as published by UPOV(International Union for the Protection of New Varieties and Plants,available on the world wide web at upov.int) and which can be downloadedfrom the world wide web atupov.int/en/publications/tg-rom/tg044/tg_44_10.pdf.

“USDA descriptors” are the plant variety descriptors for tomato (Solanumlycopersicum or Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) as published by the USDepartment of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Plant VarietyProtection Office, Beltsville, Md. 20705 (available on the world wideweb at ams.usda.gov) and which can be downloaded from the world wide webat ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3003738.

“RHS” refers to the Royal Horticultural Society of England whichpublishes an official botanical color chart quantitatively identifyingcolors according to a defined numbering system. The chart may bepurchased from Royal Horticulture Society Enterprise Ltd RHS Garden;Wisley, Woking; Surrey GU236QB, UK, e.g., the RHS colour chart: 2007(The Royal Horticultural Society, charity No: 222879, PO Box 313 LondonSW1P2PE; sold by, e.g., TORSO-VERLAG, Obere Grüben 8 • D-97877 Wertheim,Article-No.: Art62-00008 EAN-Nr.: 4250193402112).

As used herein, the term “plant” includes the whole plant or any partsor derivatives thereof, preferably having the same genetic makeup as theplant from which it is obtained, such as plant organs (e.g. harvested ornon-harvested fruits), plant cells, plant protoplasts, plant cell tissuecultures or tissue cultures from which whole plants can be regenerated,plant calli, plant cell clumps, plant transplants, seedlings, hypocotyl,cotyledon, plant cells that are intact in plants, plant clones ormicropropagations, or parts of plants (e.g. harvested tissues ororgans), such as plant cuttings, vegetative propagations, embryos,pollen, ovules, fruits, flowers, leaves, seeds, clonally propagatedplants, roots, stems, root tips, grafts, scions, rootstocks, parts ofany of these and the like. Also any developmental stage is included,such as seedlings, cuttings prior or after rooting, mature plants orleaves.

“Harvested plant material” refers herein to plant parts (e.g. fruitsdetached from the whole plant) which have been collected for furtherstorage and/or further use.

“Harvested seeds” refers to seeds harvested from a line or variety, e.g.produced after self-fertilization or cross-fertilization and collected.

“Internode” refers to a portion of a plant stem between nodes.

“Node” refers to the place on a plant stem where a leaf is attached.

“Rootstock” or “stock” refers to the plant selected for its roots, inparticular for the resistance of the roots to diseases or stress (e.g.heat, cold, salinity etc). Normally the quality of the fruit of theplant providing the rootstock is less important.

“Scion” refers to a part of the plant that is attached to the rootstock.This plant is selected for its stems, leaves, flowers, or fruits. Thescion contains the desired genes to be duplicated in future productionby the stock/scion plant and may produce the desired tomato fruit.

“Stock/scion” plant refers to a tomato plant comprising a rootstock fromone plant grafted to a scion from another plant.

“Grafting” refers to attaching tissue from one plant to another plant sothat the vascular tissues of the two tissues join together. Grafting maybe done using methods known in the art like: Tongue Approach/ApproachGraft, 2) Hole insertion/Terminal/Top Insertion Graft, 3) OneCotyledon/Slant/Splice/Tube Graft and 4) Cleft/Side Insertion Graft

A plant having “all the physiological and morphological characteristics”of a referred-to-plant means a plant having the physiological andmorphological characteristics of the referred-to-plant when grown underthe same environmental conditions, preferably in the same experiment;the referred-to-plant can be a plant from which it was derived, e.g. theprogenitor plant, the parent, the recurrent parent, the plant used fortissue- or cell culture, etc.

A plant having “essentially all the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics” of a referred-to-plant means a plant having all the(e.g. 1-10) distinguishing physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics (distinguishing characteristics as herein defined) whengrown under the same environmental conditions of the referred-to-plant(e.g. a plant from which it was derived such as the progenitor plant,the parent, the recurrent parent, the plant used for tissue- or cellculture, etc.) Alternatively, a plant having “essentially all thephysiological and morphological characteristics” of a referred-to-plantmeans a plant having all the characteristics as listed in Table 1 whengrown under the same environmental conditions as a referred-to-plant(e.g. a plant from which it was derived such as the progenitor plant,the parent, the recurrent parent, the plant used for tissue- or cellculture, etc.). In another embodiment, a plant having “essentially allthe physiological and morphological characteristics” of areferred-to-plant means a plant having all but 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 of thecharacteristics as listed in Table 1 when grown under the sameenvironmental conditions as a referred-to-plant (e.g. a plant from whichit was derived such as the progenitor plant, the parent, the recurrentparent, the plant used for tissue- or cell culture, etc.).

For NUN 09015 TOF the distinguishing characteristics are 1) averagelength of mature fruit (along stem axis); 2 average diameter of maturefruit (at widest point); 3) average weight of mature fruit; 4) averagenumber of locules; 5) an average number of flowers in inflorescence; 6)average number of nodes between early inflorescence; 7) typical fruitshape of type 7; 8) an average length of dedicel (from joint to calyxattachment); 9) pubescence on younger stems and 10) shape of blossomend.

In certain embodiments the plant of the invention has all thephysiological and morphological characteristics, except for certaincharacteristics mentioned, e.g. the characteristic(s) derived from aconverted or introduced gene or trait and/or except for thecharacteristics which differ.

Similarity between different plants is defined as the number ofdistinguishing characteristics (or the characteristics as listed inTable 1) that are the same between the two plants that are compared whengrown under the same environmental conditions. Characteristics areconsidered “the same” when the value for a numeric characteristic isevaluated at significance levels of 1%, 5% or 10% significance level, orwhen a non-numeric characteristic is identical, if the plants are grownunder the same conditions.

A plant having one or more “essential physiological and/or morphologicalcharacteristics” or one or more “distinguishing characteristics” refersto a plant having (or retaining) one or more of the characteristicsmentioned in Table 1 when grown under the same environmental conditionsthat distinguish NUN 09015 TOF from the most similar varieties (such asvariety Daniela), such as but not limited to average number of fruitsper plant, heat of (dried) fruit, maturity, average fruit diameter atmid-point or average fruit length.

“Distinguishing characteristics” or “distinguishing morphological and/orphysiological characteristics” refers herein the characteristics whichare distinguishing between NUN 09015 TOF and other tomato varieties,such as Daniela, when grown under the same environmental conditions,especially the following characteristics: 1) an average length of maturefruit (stem axis) of 58.9 to 65.1 mm; 2 average diameter of mature fruit(at widest point) of 44.6 to 49.4 mm; 3) average weight of mature fruitof 67.7 to 74.9 gram; 4) average number of locules of 1.96 to 2.17; 5)an average number of flowers in inflorescence of 7.3 to 8.1; 6) averagenumber of nodes between early inflorescence of 6.2 to 6.9 7) typicalfruit shape of type 7; 8) an average length of dedicel (from joint tocalyx attachment) of 14.8 to 16.4 mm; 9) pubescence on younger stems oftype 3—moderately hairy and 10) a type 3—nippled shape of blossom end.In one aspect, the distinguishing characteristics further include atleast one, two, three or more (or all) of the characteristics listed inTable 1. All numerical distinguishing characteristics are statisticallysignificantly different at p<0.05.

Thus, a tomato plant “comprising the distinguishing characteristics of“NUN 09015 TOF” refers herein to a tomato plant which does not differsignificantly from NUN 09015 TOF in characteristics 1) to 5) above. In afurther aspect the tomato plant further does not differ significantlyfrom NUN 09015 TOF in one or more, or all characteristics 6) to 10) asmentioned above. In yet a further aspect the tomato plant further doesnot differ in at least one, two, three, four, five or six (or all)characteristics selected from the characteristics listed in Table 1. Instill another aspect the tomato plant does not differ in any of thedistinguishing characteristics 1) to 10) listed above.

The physiological and/or morphological characteristics mentioned aboveare commonly evaluated at significance levels of 1%, 5% or 10%, whenmeasured under the same environmental conditions. For example, a progenyplant of NUN 09015 TOF may have one or more (or all) of the essentialphysiological and/or morphological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOFlisted in Table 1, as determined at the 5% significance level when grownunder the same environmental conditions.

As used herein, the term “variety”, “cultivated tomato” or “cultivar”means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowestknown rank, which grouping, irrespective of whether the conditions forthe grant of a breeder's right are fully met, can be defined by theexpression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype orcombination of genotypes, distinguished from any other plant grouping bythe expression of at least one of the said characteristics andconsidered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagatedunchanged.

A variety is referred to as an “Essentially Derived Variety” (EDV) i.e.,shall be deemed to be essentially derived from another variety, “theinitial variety” when (i) it is predominantly derived from the initialvariety, or from a variety that is itself predominantly derived from theinitial variety, while retaining the expression of the essentialcharacteristics that result from the genotype or combination ofgenotypes of the initial variety; (ii) it is clearly distinguishablefrom the initial variety; and (iii) except for the differences whichresult from the act of derivation, it conforms to the initial variety inthe expression of the essential characteristics that result from thegenotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety. Thus, anEDV may be obtained for example by the selection of a natural or inducedmutant, or of a somaclonal variant, the selection of a variantindividual from plants of the initial variety, backcrossing, ortransformation by genetic engineering.

“Plant line” is for example a breeding line which can be used to developone or more varieties. Progeny obtained by selfing a plant line has thesame phenotype as its parents.

“Hybrid variety” or “F1 hybrid” refers to the seeds harvested fromcrossing two inbred (nearly homozygous) parental lines. For example, thefemale parent is pollinated with pollen of the male parent to producehybrid (F1) seeds on the female parent.

“Regeneration” refers to the development of a plant from cell culture ortissue culture or vegetative propagation.

“Vegetative propagation”, “vegetative reproduction” or “clonalpropagation” are used interchangeably herein and mean the method oftaking part of a plant and allowing that plant part to form at leastroots where plant part is, e.g., defined as or derived from (e.g. bycutting of) leaf, pollen, embryo, cotyledon, hypocotyl, cells,protoplasts, meristematic cell, root, root tip, pistil, anther, flower,shoot tip, shoot, stem, fruit, petiole, etc. When a whole plant isregenerated by vegetative propagation, it is also referred to as avegetative propagation.

“Selfing” refers to self-pollination of a plant, i.e., the transfer ofpollen from the anther to the stigma of the same plant.

“Crossing” refers to the mating of two parent plants. The termencompasses “cross-pollination” and “selfing”.

“Cross-pollination” refers to the fertilization by the union of twogametes from different plants.

“Substantially equivalent” refers to a characteristic that, whencompared, does not show a statistically significant difference (e.g.,p=0.05) from the mean. ANOVA is a suitable method for determining thevalue of p (Clewer, A. G., and D. H. Scarisbrick. 2001).

“Locus” (plural loci) refers to the specific location of a gene or DNAsequence on a chromosome. A locus may confer a specific trait.

“Allele” refers to one or more alternative forms of a gene locus. All ofthese loci relate to one trait. Sometimes, different alleles can resultin different observable phenotypic traits, such as differentpigmentation. However, many variations at the genetic level result inlittle or no observable variation. If a multicellular organism has twosets of chromosomes, i.e. diploid, these chromosomes are referred to ashomologous chromosomes. Diploid organisms have one copy of each gene(and therefore one allele) on each chromosome. If both alleles are thesame, they are homozygotes. If the alleles are different, they areheterozygotes.

“Genotype” refers to the genetic composition of a cell or organism.

“Phenotype” refers to the detectable characteristics of a plant, cell ororganism, which characteristics are the manifestation of geneexpression.

Haploid” refers to a cell or organism having one set of the two sets ofchromosomes in a diploid.

“Diploid” refers to a cell or organism having two sets of chromosomes.

“Polyploid” refers to a cell or organism having three or more completesets of chromosomes.

“Triploid” refers to a cell or organism having three sets ofchromosomes.

“Tetraploid” refers to a cell or organism having four sets ofchromosomes.

“Maturity” refers to the fruit developmental stage when the fruit hasfully developed (reached its final size), begins to ripen and undergoesripening, during which fruits can be divided into 1, 2, 3 or morematurity stages. Thereafter, fruits become overripe. In particularembodiments “maturity” is defined as the mature stage of fruitdevelopment and optimal time for harvest. In one embodiment a “mature”tomato is defined as having reached the stage of maturity which willinsure the proper completion of the normal ripening process. Inparticular embodiments, fruit should be harvested at a maturity stagei.e. substantially near maximum sweetness and flavor intensity.

“Harvest maturity” is referred to as the stage at which a tomato fruitis ripe or ready for harvest or the optimal time to harvest the fruit.In one embodiment, harvest maturity is the stage which allows propercompletion of the normal ripening.

“Flavor” (or flavour) refers to the sensory impression of a food orother substance, especially a tomato fruit or fruit part (fruit flesh)and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell.Flavor is influenced by texture properties and by volatile and/ornon-volatile chemical components (organic acids, lipids, carbohydrates,salts etc.).

The term “traditional breeding techniques” encompasses herein crossing,selfing, selection, double haploid production, embryo rescue, protoplastfusion, marker assisted selection, mutation breeding etc. as known tothe breeder (i.e. methods other than geneticmodification/transformation/transgenic methods), by which, for example,a genetically heritable trait can be transferred from one tomato line orvariety to another.

“Backcrossing” is a traditional breeding technique used to introduce atrait into a plant line or variety. The plant containing the trait iscalled the donor plant and the plant into which the trait is transferredis called the recurrent parent. An initial cross is made between thedonor parent and the recurrent parent to produce progeny plants. Progenyplants which have the trait are then crossed to the recurrent parent.After several generations of backcrossing and/or selfing the recurrentparent comprises the trait of the donor. The plant generated in this waymay be referred to as a “single trait converted plant”.

“Progeny” as used herein refers to plants derived from a plantdesignated NUN 09015 TOF. Progeny may be derived by regeneration of cellculture or tissue culture or parts of a plant designated NUN 09015 TOFor selfing of a plant designated NUN 09015 TOF or by producing seeds ofa plant designated NUN 09015 TOF. In further embodiments, progeny mayalso encompass plants derived from crossing of at least one plantdesignated NUN 09015 TOF with another tomato plant of the same oranother variety or (breeding) line, or wild tomato plants, backcrossing,inserting of a locus into a plant or mutation. A progeny is, e.g., afirst generation progeny, i.e. the progeny is directly derived from,obtained from, obtainable from or derivable from the parent plant by,e.g., traditional breeding methods (selfing and/or crossing) orregeneration. However, the term “progeny” generally encompasses furthergenerations such as second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh or moregenerations, i.e., generations of plants which are derived from,obtained from, obtainable from or derivable from the former generationby, e.g., traditional breeding methods, regeneration or genetictransformation techniques. For example, a second generation progeny canbe produced from a first generation progeny by any of the methodsmentioned above.

The terms “gene converted” or “conversion plant” in this context referto tomato plants which are developed by backcrossing wherein essentiallyall of the desired morphological and physiological characteristics ofparent are recovered in addition to the one or more genes transferredinto the parent via the backcrossing technique or via geneticengineering. Likewise a “Single Locus Converted (Conversion) Plant”refers to plants which are developed by plant breeding techniquescomprising or consisting of backcrossing, wherein essentially all of thedesired morphological and physiological characteristics of a tomatovariety are recovered in addition to the characteristics of the singlelocus having been transferred into the variety via the backcrossingtechnique and/or by genetic transformation.

“Transgene” or “chimeric gene” refers to a genetic locus comprising aDNA sequence which has been introduced into the genome of a tomato plantby transformation. A plant comprising a transgene stably integrated intoits genome is referred to as “transgenic plant”.

“Linkage” refers to a phenomenon wherein alleles on the same chromosometend to segregate together more often than expected by chance if theirtransmission was independent.

“Marker” refers to a readily detectable phenotype, preferably inheritedin codominant fashion (both alleles at a locus in a diploid heterozygoteare readily detectable), with no environmental variance component, i.e.,a heritability of 1.

“Average” refers herein to the arithmetic mean.

The term “mean” refers to the arithmetic mean of several measurements.The skilled person understands that the appearance of a plant depends tosome extent on the growing conditions of said plant. Thus, the skilledperson will know typical growing conditions for tomatoes describedherein. The mean, if not indicated otherwise within this application,refers to the arithmetic mean of measurements on at least 10 different,randomly selected plants of a variety or line.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a Solanum lycopersicum variety,referred to as NUN 09015 TOF, which has a higher average number of seedsper fruit, greater heat of (dried) fruit, earlier maturity, loweraverage plant height, lower average plant width, lower average seedcavity diameter, concentrated fruit set instead of scattered fruit set,higher average placental length, lower average fruit flesh thickness andhigher average third internode length than check variety Daniela. Alsoencompassed by the present invention are progeny plants having all but1, 2, or 3 of the morphological and/physiological characteristics of NUN09015 TOF and methods of producing plants in accordance with the presentinvention.

A tomato plant of NUN 09015 TOF differs from the most similar comparisonvariety Daniela in one or more characteristics (referred herein to as“distinguishing characteristics” or “distinguishing morphological and/orphysiological characteristics” (or essential physiological and/ormorphological characteristics) selected from:

-   1) NUN 09015 TOF has an average length of mature fruit (stem axis)    that is at least 10%, or preferably 15, 20, 25, 26% or even more    preferably about 27% higher than Daniela;-   2) NUN 09015 TOF has an average diameter of mature fruit (at widest    point) that is at least 10%, or preferably 15, 16, 225, 17, 18% or    even more preferably about 18.7% lower than Daniela;-   3) NUN 09015 TOF has an average weight of mature fruit that is at    least 10%, or preferably 15, 20, 21, 22% or even more preferably    about 22.9% lower than Daniela;-   4) NUN 09015 TOF has an average number of locules that is at least    20%, or preferably 25, 30, 35, 36% or even more preferably about 37%    lower than Daniela;-   5) NUN 09015 TOF has an average number of flowers in inflorescence    that is at least 15%, or preferably 20, 25, 27.5, 30% or even more    preferably about 31% higher than Daniela;-   6) NUN 09015 TOF has an average number of nodes between early    inflorescence that is at least 10%, or preferably 12, 13, 15, 16% or    even more preferably about 16.6% higher than Daniela;-   7) NUN 09015 TOF has a typical fruit shape of type 7 instead of a    type 2 which Daniela has;-   8) NUN 09015 TOF has an average length of dedicel (from joint to    calyx attachment) that is at least 10%, or preferably 12 14, 15, 16%    or even more preferably about 17% longer than Daniela;-   9) NUN 09015 TOF has pubescence on younger stems of type    3—moderately hairy instead of a type 2—sparsely hairy which Daniela    has; and-   10) NUN 09015 TOF has a type 3—nippled shape of blossom end instead    of a type 2—flat which Daniela has.

It is understood that “significant” differences refer to statisticallysignificant differences, when comparing the characteristic between twoplant lines or varieties when grown under the same conditions.Preferably at least about 10, 15, 20 or more plants per line or varietyare grown under the same conditions (i.e. side by side) andcharacteristics are measured on at least about 10, 15, 20 or morerandomly selected plant or plant parts to obtain averages. Thus,physiological and morphological characteristics or traits are commonlyevaluated at a significance level of 1%, 5% or 10%, when measured inplants grown under the same environmental conditions.

Thus, in one aspect, the invention provides seeds of the tomato varietydesignated NUN 09015 TOF wherein a representative sample of seeds ofsaid variety was deposited under the Budapest Treaty, with Accessionnumber NCIMB 42622.

Seeds of NUN 09015 TOF are obtainable by crossing the male parent withthe female parent and harvesting the seeds produced on the femaleparent. The resultant NUN 09015 TOF seeds can be grown to produce NUN09015 TOF plants. In one embodiment a plurality of NUN 09015 TOF seedsare packaged into small and/or large containers (e.g., bags, cartons,cans, etc.). The seeds may be disinfected, primed and/or treated withvarious compounds, such as seed coatings or crop protection compounds.

Also provided are plants of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF, or a fruit orother plant part thereof, produced from seeds, wherein a representativesample of said seeds has been deposited under the Budapest Treaty, withAccession Number NCIMB 42622. Also included is a cell culture or tissueculture produced from such a plant or a plant regenerated from such acell or tissue culture said plant expressing all the morphological andphysiological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF.

Plants of NUN 09015 TOF can be produced by seeding directly in theground (e.g., field) or by germinating the seeds in controlledenvironment conditions (e.g., greenhouses) and then transplanting theseedlings into the field. For example, the seed can be sown intoprepared seed beds where they will remain for the entire production ofthe crop. Alternatively, the tomato seed may be planted through a blackplastic mulch. The dark plastic will absorb heat from the sun, warmingthe soil early. It will also help to conserve moisture during thegrowing season, controls weeds and makes harvesting easier and cleaner.Tomato can also be grown entirely in greenhouses. See for example MDomis, A P Papadopoulos (2002) Horticultural Reviews for cultivation,harvesting, handling and postharvest methods commonly used.

In another aspect, the invention provides for a tomato plant of varietyNUN 09015 TOF, a representative sample of seed from said variety hasbeen deposited under the Budapest Treaty, with Accession number NCIMB42622.

In other aspects, the invention provides for a fruit of tomato varietyNUN 09015 TOF, or a plant part, such as pollen, flowers, shoots orcuttings of variety NUN 09015 TOF or parts thereof.

In one embodiment any plant of the invention comprises at least 3, 4, 5or more, e.g. 6, 7, 8, 9 or all of the following morphological and/orphysiological characteristics (i.e. distinguishing characteristics(average values; measured at harvest or market maturity, as indicated onthe USDA Objective description of variety—Tomato (unless indicatedotherwise), when grown under the same environmental conditions):

-   1) NUN 09015 TOF has an average length of mature fruit (stem axis)    of about 62 mm e.g. between about 45 and about 80 or preferably    between about 50 and about 75 or between about 55 and 70 or even    between about 60 and 65 seeds; 1) of 58.9 to 65.1 mm; 2 of 44.6 to    49.4 mm; 3) of 67.7 to 74.9 gram; 4) average of 1.96 to 2.17; 5) an    of 7.3 to 8.1; 6) of 6.2 to 6.9 7; 8) an average of 14.8 to 16.4    mm; 9) pubescence on younger stems of type 3—moderately hairy    and 10) a type 3—nippled shape of blossom end.-   2) NUN 09015 TOF has an average diameter of mature fruit (at widest    point) of about 47 mm e.g. between about 30 mm and about 65 mm or    preferably between about 35 and about 60 mm or between about 40 and    55 mm or even between about 45 and 50 mm;-   3) NUN 09015 TOF has average weight of mature fruit of about 71.3    gram e.g. between about 65 and about 80 g or preferably between    about 68 and about 77 g or between about 70 and 74 g or even between    about 71 and 72 g;-   4) NUN 09015 TOF has an average number of locules of class 1:    approximately two locules;-   5) NUN 09015 TOF has an average number of flowers in inflorescence    of about 7.7 e.g. between about 6.5 and about 9.0 or preferably    between about 7.0 and about 8.5 or between about 7.5 and 8.0 or even    between about 7.6 and 7.8.-   6) NUN 09015 TOF has an average number of nodes between early    inflorescence of about 6.53 e.g. between about 6 and about 8 or    preferably between about 6.5 and about 7.5 or between about 6.00 and    7.00 or even between about 6.25 and 6.75;-   7) NUN 09015 TOF has a typical fruit shape of type 7;-   8) NUN 09015 TOF has an average length of dedicel (from joint to    calyx attachment) of about 15.6 mm e.g. between about 10 mm and    about 20 mm or preferably between about 12 and about 18 mm or    between about 14 and 17 mm or even between about 15 and 16 mm;-   9) NUN 09015 TOF has pubescence on younger stems that is type    3—moderately hairy; and-   10) NUN 09015 TOF has a type 3—nippled shape of blossom end of the    fruit.

In another embodiment, NUN 09015 TOF has intermediate to high resistanceagainst the viral diseases Tomato Mosaic Virus strain 0,1 and 2 and thefungal diseases Verticillium dahlia Race 0, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.Lycopersici race 0 and 1, Cladosporium fulvum race 0 group A, B, C, D,and E, All resistances are classified as high (9 out of 9, with 9highest. All Rates are from 1 (most susceptible) to 9 (most resistant.

In still another aspect the invention provides a method of producing atomato plant, comprising crossing a plant of tomato variety NUN 09015TOF with a second tomato plant one or more times, and selecting progenyfrom said crossing.

In yet another aspect the invention provides a method of producing atomato plant, comprising selfing a plant of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOFone or more times, and selecting progeny from said selfing.

In other aspects, the invention provides for progeny of variety NUN09015 TOF such as progeny obtained by further breeding NUN 09015 TOF.Further breeding NUN 09015 TOF includes selfing NUN 09015 TOF one ormore times and/or cross-pollinating NUN 09015 TOF with another tomatoplant or variety one or more times. In particular, the inventionprovides for progeny that retain all the essential morphological andphysiological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF or that retain one ormore of the distinguishing characteristics of the tomato type describedfurther above and when grown under the same environmental conditions. Inanother aspect, the invention provides for vegetative reproductions ofthe variety and plants having all but 1, 2, or 3 of the physiologicaland morphological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF (e.g. as listed inTable 1).

The morphological and/or physiological differences between plantsaccording to the invention, i.e. NUN 09015 TOF or progeny thereof, orplants having all but 1, 2, or 3 of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of NUN 09015 TOF (as listed in Table 1); and other knownvarieties can easily be established by growing NUN 09015 TOF next to theother varieties (in the same field, under the same environmentalconditions), preferably in several locations which are suitable for saidtomato cultivation, and measuring morphological and/or physiologicalcharacteristics of a number of plants (e.g., to calculate an averagevalue and to determine the variation range/uniformity within thevariety). For example, trials can be carried out in Acampo Calif., USA(N 38 degrees 07′261″/W 121 degrees 18′807″, USA, whereby, maturity,days from seeding to harvest, plant habit, plant attitude, leaf shape,leaf color, blistering, numbers of flowers per leaf axil, number ofcalyx lobes, number of petals, fruit group, immature fruit color, maturefruit color, pungency, flavor, fruit glossiness, fruit size, fruitshape, average number of fruits per plant, seed size, seed weight,anthocyanin level, disease resistance, insect resistance, can bemeasured and directly compared for species of Solanum.

The morphological and physiological characteristics (and distinguishingcharacteristics) of NUN 09015 TOF, are provided in the Examples, inTable 1. Encompassed herein are also plants derivable from NUN 09015 TOF(e.g. by selfings and/or crossing and/or backcrossing with NUN 09015 TOFand/or progeny thereof) comprising all the physiological andmorphological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF listed in Table 1 asdetermined at the 5% significance level when grown under the sameenvironmental conditions and/or comprising one or more (or all; or allexcept one, two or three) of the distinguishing characteristics asdetermined at the 5% significance level when grown under the sameenvironmental conditions.

Also at-harvest and/or post-harvest characteristics of fruits can becompared, such as cold storage holding quality (browning), post-harvestrind firmness and/or flesh firmness, can be measured using knownmethods.

Flesh firmness can for example be measured using a penetrometer, e.g. byinserting a probe into the fruit flesh and determining the insertionforce, or by other methods.

The morphological and/or physiological characteristics may vary somewhatwith variation in the environment (such as temperature, light intensity,day length, humidity, soil, fertilizer use), which is why a comparisonunder the same environmental conditions is preferred. Colors can best bemeasured against The Munsell Book of Color (Munsell Color MacbethDivision of Kollmorgan Instruments Corporation) or using the RoyalHorticultural Society Chart (World wide web atrhs.org.uk/Plants/RHS-Publications/RHS-colour-charts).

In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides for tomato fruits ofvariety NUN 09015 TOF, or a part of the fruit. In another embodiment,the invention provides for a container comprising or consisting of aplurality of harvested tomato fruits of NUN 09015 TOF, or progenythereof, or a derived variety.

In yet a further embodiment, the invention provides for a method ofproducing a new tomato plant. The method comprises crossing a plant ofthe invention NUN 09015 TOF, or a plant comprising all but 1, 2, or 3 ofthe morphological and physiological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF (aslisted in Table 1), or a progeny plant thereof, either as male or asfemale parent, with a second tomato plant (or a wild relative of tomato)one or more times, and/or selfing a tomato plant according to theinvention i.e. NUN 09015 TOF, or a progeny plant thereof, one or moretimes, and selecting progeny from said crossing and/or selfing. Thesecond tomato plant may for example be a line or variety of the speciesSolanum Lycopersicon, S. chilense, S. habrochaites, S. penelli, S.peruvianum S. pimpinellifolium or other Solanum species.

Progeny are either the generation (seeds) produced from the first cross(F1) or selfing (S1), or any further generation produced by crossingand/or selfing (F2, F3, etc.) and/or backcrossing (BC1, BC2, etc.) oneor more selected plants of the F1 and/or S1 and/or BC1 generation (orplants of any further generation, e.g. the F2) with another tomato plant(and/or with a wild relative of tomato). Progeny may have all thephysiological and morphological characteristics of tomato variety NUN09015 TOF when grown under the same environmental conditions and/orprogeny may have (be selected for having) one or more of thedistinguishing characteristics of tomato of the invention. Using commonbreeding methods such as backcrossing or recurrent selection, one ormore specific characteristics may be introduced into NUN 09015 TOF, toprovide or a plant comprising all but 1, 2, or 3 or more of themorphological and physiological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF (aslisted in Table 1).

The invention provides for methods of producing plants which retain allthe morphological and physiological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF.The invention provides also for methods of producing a plant comprisingall but 1, 2, or 3 or more of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of NUN 09015 TOF (e.g. as listed in Table 1), but whichare still genetically closely related to NUN 09015 TOF. The relatednesscan, for example be determined by fingerprinting techniques (e.g.,making use of isozyme markers and/or molecular markers such as SNPmarkers, AFLP markers, microsatellites, minisatellites, RAPD markers,RFLP markers and others). A plant is “closely related” to NUN 09015 TOFif its DNA fingerprint is at least 80%, 90%, 95% or 98% identical to thefingerprint of NUN 09015 TOF. In a preferred embodiment AFLP markers areused for DNA fingerprinting (Vos et al. 1995, Nucleic Acid Research 23:4407-4414). A closely related plant may have a Jaccard's Similarityindex of at least about 0.8, preferably at least about 0.9, 0.95, 0.98or more (Ince et al., (2010) Biochem. Genet. 48:83-95). The inventionalso provides plants and varieties obtained by these methods. Plants maybe produced by crossing and/or selfing, or alternatively, a plant maysimply be identified and selected amongst NUN 09015 TOF plants, orprogeny thereof, e.g. by identifying a variant within NUN 09015 TOF orprogeny thereof (e.g. produced by selfing) which variant differs fromNUN 09015 TOF in one, two or three of the morphological and/orphysiological characteristics (e.g. in one, two or three distinguishingcharacteristics), e.g. those listed in Table 1 or others.

By crossing and/or selfing also (one or more) single traits may beintroduced into the variety of the invention i.e. NUN 09015 TOF (e.g.,using backcrossing breeding schemes), while retaining the remainingmorphological and physiological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF and/orwhile retaining one or more distinguishing characteristics. A singletrait converted plant may thereby be produced. For example, diseaseresistance genes may be introduced, genes responsible for one or morequality traits, yield, etc. Both single genes (dominant or recessive)and one or more QTLs (quantitative trait loci) may be transferred intoNUN 09015 TOF by breeding with NUN 09015 TOF.

Any pest or disease resistance genes may be introduced into a plantaccording to the invention, i.e. NUN 09015 TOF, progeny thereof or intoa plant comprising all but 1, 2, or 3 or more of the morphological andphysiological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF (e.g. as listed in Table1). Resistance to one or more of the following diseases is preferablyintroduced into plants of the invention: Cucumber Mosaic Virus, CurlyTop Virus, Tomato Mottle Virus, Potato Y Virus, Blotchey Ripening,Tobacco Etch Virus, the various Tobacco Mosaic Virus races, Concentriccracking, Tomato spotted wilt, Tomato yellows, Gold Fleck, Bacterialcanker, Bacterial soft rot, Bacterial speck, Bacterial wilt, Anthracnose(Gloeosporium piperatum), Fusarium wilt (F. oxysporum races),Alternaria, Bacterial Spot (Xanthomonas vesicatoria), Nematode(Meloidogyne incognita acrita), Late blight (Phytophthora infestansraces), Leaf mold (Cladosporium fulvum races), Colorado potato beetle,Spider mites, Whitefly and Verticillium Wilt (Verticillium dahliae).

Other resistance genes, against pathogenic viruses, fungi, bacteria,nematodes, insects or other pests may also be introduced.

Thus, invention also provides a method for developing a tomato plant ina tomato breeding program, using a tomato plant of the invention, or itsparts as a source of plant breeding material. Suitable plant breedingtechniques are recurrent selection, backcrossing, pedigree breeding,mass selection, mutation breeding and/or genetic marker enhancedselection. For example, in one aspect, the method comprises crossing NUN09015 TOF or progeny thereof, or a plant comprising all but 1, 2, or 3or more of the morphological and physiological characteristics of NUN09015 TOF (e.g. as listed in Table 1), with a different tomato plant,and wherein one or more offspring of the crossing are subject to one ormore plant breeding techniques selected from the group consisting ofrecurrent selection, backcrossing, pedigree breeding, mass selection,mutation breeding and genetic marker enhanced selection (see e.g.Vidaysky and Czosnek, (1998) Phytopathology 88(9): 910-4). For breedingmethods in general see Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding, 2007,George Acquaah, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-3646-4.

The invention thus also provides a method of introducing a single locusconversion, or single trait conversion or introducing a desired trait,into a tomato plant according to the invention and/or into NUN 09015 TOFcomprising:

-   (a) crossing a tomato plant of variety NUN 09015 TOF, a    representative sample of seed of said variety having been deposited    under Accession Number NCIMB 42622, with a second tomato plant    comprising a desired single locus to produce F1 progeny plants;-   (b) selecting F1 progeny plants that have the single locus to    produce selected F1 progeny plants;-   (c) crossing the selected progeny plants with a plant of NUN 09015    TOF, to produce backcross progeny plants;-   (d) selecting backcross progeny plants that have the single locus    and one or more (or all) distinguishing characteristics of tomato    according to the invention and/or all the physiological and    morphological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF to produce selected    backcross progeny plants; and-   (e) optionally repeating steps (c) and (d) one or more times in    succession to produce selected second, third or fourth or higher    backcross progeny plants that comprise the single locus and    otherwise one or more (or all) the distinguishing characteristics of    the tomatoes according to the invention and/or comprise all of the    physiological and morphological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF,    when grown in the same environmental conditions. The invention    further relates to plants obtained by this method.

The above method is provided, wherein the single locus conversionconcerns a trait, wherein the trait is pest resistance or diseaseresistance.

In one embodiment the trait is disease resistance and the resistance isconferred to Cucumber Mosaic Virus, Curly Top Virus, Tomato MottleVirus, Potato Y Virus, Blotchey Ripening, Tobacco Etch Virus, thevarious Tobacco Mosaic Virus races, Concentric cracking, Tomato spottedwilt, Tomato yellows, Gold Fleck, Bacterial canker, Bacterial soft rot,Bacterial speck, Bacterial wilt, Anthracnose (Gloeosporium piperatum),Fusarium wilt (F. oxysporum races), Alternaria, Bacterial Spot(Xanthomonas vesicatoria), Nematode (Meloidogyne incognita acrita), Lateblight (Phytophthora infestans races), Leaf mold (Cladosporium fulvumraces), Colorado potato beetle, Spider mites, Whitefly and VerticilliumWilt (Verticillium dahliae).

The invention also provides a tomato plant comprising at least a firstset of the chromosomes of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF, a sample of seedof said variety having been deposited under Accession Number NCIMB42622; optionally further comprising a single locus conversion, whereinsaid plant has essentially all of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of the plant comprising at least a first set of thechromosomes of tomato NUN 09015 TOF. In another embodiment, this singlelocus conversion confers a trait selected from the group consisting ofmale sterility, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, pest resistance,disease resistance, environmental stress tolerance, modifiedcarbohydrate metabolism and modified protein metabolism.

In one embodiment, NUN 09015 TOF may also be mutated (by e.g.irradiation, chemical mutagenesis, heat treatment, etc.) and mutatedseeds or plants may be selected in order to change one or morecharacteristics of NUN 09015 TOF. Methods such as TILLING may be appliedto tomato populations in order to identify mutants. Similarly, NUN 09015TOF may be transformed and regenerated, whereby one or more chimericgenes are introduced into the variety or into a plant comprising all but1, 2, 3, or more of the morphological and physiological characteristics(e.g. as listed in Table 1). Transformation can be carried out usingstandard methods, such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediatedtransformation or biolistics, followed by selection of the transformedcells and regeneration into plants. A desired trait (e.g. genesconferring pest or disease resistance, herbicide, fungicide orinsecticide tolerance, etc.) can be introduced into NUN 09015 TOF, orprogeny thereof, by transforming NUN 09015 TOF or progeny thereof with atransgene that confers the desired trait, wherein the transformed plantretains all the phenotypic and/or morphological and/or physiologicalcharacteristics of NUN 09015 TOF or the progeny thereof and contains thedesired trait.

The invention also provides for progeny of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOFobtained by further breeding with NUN 09015 TOF. In one aspect progenyare F1 progeny obtained by crossing NUN 09015 TOF with another plant orS1 progeny obtained by selfing NUN 09015 TOF. Also encompassed are F2progeny obtained by selfing the F1 plants. “Further breeding”encompasses traditional breeding (e.g., selfing, crossing,backcrossing), marker assisted breeding, and/or mutation breeding. Inone embodiment, the progeny have one or more (or all) of thedistinguishing characteristics mentioned further above when grown underthe same environmental conditions. In a further embodiment the progenyhave all the physiological and morphological characteristics of varietyNUN 09015 TOF when grown under the same environmental conditions. Inanother embodiment the progeny have one, two, or three distinct traits(qualitative or quantitative) introduced into NUN 09015 TOF, whileretaining all the other physiological and morphological characteristicsof variety NUN 09015 TOF when grown under the same environmentalconditions.

An EDV is a plant having one, two or three physiological and/ormorphological characteristics which are different from those of NUN09015 TOF and which otherwise has all the physiological andmorphological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF, wherein a representativesample of seed of variety NUN 09015 TOF has been deposited underAccession Number NCIMB 42622. In particular variants which differ fromNUN 09015 TOF in none, one, two or three of the characteristicsmentioned in Table 1 are encompassed.

In one aspect, the EDV differs from NUN 09015 TOF in one, two or threeof the distinguishing morphological and/or physiological characteristicsselected from 1) average length of mature fruit (along stem axis); 2average diameter of mature fruit (at widest point); 3) average weight ofmature fruit; 4) average number of locules; and 5) average number offlowers in inflorescence.

In another embodiment the EDV may differ from NUN 09015 TOF in one, twoor three morphological or physiological characteristic other than the“distinguishing morphological and/or physiological characteristics” (oressential physiological and/or morphological characteristics) of NUN09015 TOF selected from: 6) average number of nodes between earlyinflorescence; 7) typical fruit shape of type 7; 8) an average length ofdedicel (from joint to calyx attachment); 9) pubescence on younger stemsand 10) shape of blossom end.

Tomatos according to the invention, such as the variety NUN 09015 TOF,or its progeny, or a plant having all physiological and/or morphologicalcharacteristics but one, two or three which are different from those ofNUN 09015 TOF, can also be reproduced using vegetative reproductionmethods. Therefore, the invention provides for a method of producingplants, or a part thereof, of variety NUN 09015 TOF, comprisingvegetative propagation of variety NUN 09015 TOF. Vegetative propagationcomprises regenerating a whole plant from a plant part of variety NUN09015 TOF (or from its progeny or from or a plant having allphysiological and/or morphological characteristics but one, two orthree, which are different from those of NUN 09015 TOF), such as acutting, a cell culture or a tissue culture.

The invention also concerns methods of vegetatively propagating a plantof the invention. In certain embodiments, the method comprises the stepsof: (a) collecting tissue or cells capable of being propagated from aplant of the invention; (b) cultivating said tissue or cells to obtainproliferated shoots; and (c) rooting said proliferated shoots, to obtainrooted plantlets. Steps (b) and (c) may also be reversed, i.e. firstcultivating said tissue to obtain roots and then cultivating the tissueto obtain shoots, thereby obtaining rooted plantlets. The rootedplantlets may then be further grown, to obtain plants. In oneembodiment, the method further comprises step (d) growing plants fromsaid rooted plantlets

The invention also provides for a vegetatively propagated plant ofvariety NUN 09015 TOF (or from its progeny or from or a plant having allbut one, two or three physiological and/or morphological characteristicswhich are different from those of NUN 09015 TOF, or a part thereof,having one or more distinguishing characteristics and/or all themorphological and physiological characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF (exceptfor the characteristics differing), when grown under the sameenvironmental conditions.

Parts of NUN 09015 TOF (or of its progeny or of a plant having allphysiological and/or morphological characteristics but one, two or threewhich are different from those of NUN 09015 TOF) encompass any cells,tissues, organs obtainable from the seedlings or plants, such as but notlimited to: tomato fruits or parts thereof, cuttings, hypocotyl,cotyledon, pollen and the like. Such parts can be stored and/orprocessed further. Encompassed are therefore also food or feed productscomprising one or more of such parts, such as canned, chopped, cooked,roasted, in a sauce, in a sandwich, pasted, puréed or concentrated,juiced, frozen, dried, pickled, or powdered tomato fruit from NUN 09015TOF or from progeny thereof, or from a derived variety, such as a planthaving all but one, two or three physiological and/or morphologicalcharacteristics which are different from those of NUN 09015 TOF.

In one aspect haploid plants and/or double haploid plants of NUN 09015TOF, or a plant having all but one, two or three physiological and/ormorphological characteristics which are different from those of NUN09015 TOF, or progeny of any of these, are encompassed herein. Haploidand double haploid (DH) plants can, for example, be produced by cell ortissue culture and chromosome doubling agents and regeneration into awhole plant. For DH production chromosome doubling may be induced usingknown methods, such as colchicine treatment or the like.

Also provided are plant parts derived from variety NUN 09015 TOF (orfrom its progeny or from a plant having all but one, two or threephysiological and/or morphological characteristics which are differentfrom those of NUN 09015 TOF D), or from a vegetatively propagated plantof NUN 09015 TOF (or from its progeny or from a plant having all butone, two or three physiological and/or morphological characteristicswhich are different from those of NUN 09015 TOF), being selected fromthe group consisting of: harvested fruits or parts thereof, pollen,cells, leaves or parts thereof, petioles, cotyledons, hypocotyls, shootsor parts thereof, stems or parts thereof, roots or parts thereof,cuttings, or flowers.

In one embodiment, the invention provides for extracts of a plantdescribed herein and compositions comprising or consisting of suchextracts. In a preferred embodiment, the extract consists of orcomprises tissue of a plant described herein or is obtained from suchtissue.

In still yet another aspect, the invention provides a method ofdetermining the genotype of a plant of the invention comprisingdetecting in the genome (e.g., a sample of nucleic acids) of the plantat least a first polymorphism. The method may, in certain embodiments,comprise detecting a plurality of polymorphisms in the genome of theplant, for example by obtaining a sample of nucleic acid from a plantand detecting in said nucleic acids a plurality of polymorphisms. Themethod may further comprise storing the results of the step of detectingthe plurality of polymorphisms on a computer readable medium

The invention also provides for a food or feed product comprising orconsisting of a plant part described herein wherein the plant part canbe identified as a part of the plant of the invention. Preferably, theplant part is a tomato fruit or part thereof and/or an extract from afruit or another plant part described herein. The food or feed productmay be fresh or processed, e.g., dried, grinded, powdered, pickled,chopped, cooked, roasted, in a sauce, in a sandwich, pasted, puréed orconcentrated, juiced, pickled, canned, steamed, boiled, fried, blanchedand/or frozen, etc.

For example, containers such as cans, boxes, crates, bags, cartons,Modified Atmosphere Packagings, films (e.g. biodegradable films), etc.comprising plant parts of plants (fresh and/or processed) describedherein are also provided herein.

Marketable tomato fruits are generally sorted by size and quality afterharvest. Alternatively the tomato fruits can be sorted by expected shelflife. pH of Brix.

Tomatos may also be grown for use in grafting or inosculation asrootstocks (stocks) or scions (cions). Typically, different types oftomatoes are grafted to enhance disease resistance, which is usuallyconferred by the rootstock, while retaining the horticultural qualitiesusually conferred by the scion. It is not uncommon for grafting to occurbetween cultivated tomato varieties and related Solanum species. Methodsof grafting and vegetative propagation are well-known in the art.

So in one aspect the invention relates to a plant comprising a rootstockor scion of NUN 09015 TOF.

Using methods known in the art like “reverse breeding”, it is possibleto produce parental lines for a hybrid plant such as NUN 09015 TOF;where normally the hybrid is produced from the parental lines. Suchmethods are based on the segregation of individual alleles in the sporesproduced by a desired plant and/or in the progeny derived from theself-pollination of that desired plant, and on the subsequentidentification of suitable progeny plants in one generation, or in alimited number of inbred cycles. Such a method is known fromWO2014076249 or from Nature Protocols Volume: 9, Pages: 761-772 (2014)DOI: doi:10.1038/nprot.2014.049, which are enclosed by reference. Suchmethod for producing parental lines for a hybrid organism, comprises thesteps of: a) defining a set of genetic markers that are present in aheterozygous form (H) in a partially heterozygous starting organism; b)producing doubled haploid lines from spores of the starting organism: c)genetically characterizing the doubled haploid lines thus obtained forthe said set of genetic markers to determine whether they are present ina first homozygous form (A) or in a second homozygous form (B); d)selecting at least one pair of doubled haploid lines that havecomplementary alleles for at least a subset of the genetic markers,wherein each member of the pair is suitable as a parental line for ahybrid organism.

Thus in one aspect, the invention relates to a method of producing acombination of parental lines of a plant of the invention (NUN 09015TOF) comprising the step of making double haploid cells from haploidcells from the plant of the invention (NUN 09015 TOF) or a seed of thatplant; and optionally crossing these parental lines to produce andcollect seeds. In another aspect, the invention relates to a combinationof parental lines produced by this method. In still another aspect saidcombination of parental lines can be used to produce a seed or plant ofNUN 09015 TOF when these parental lines are crossed. In still anotheraspect, the invention relates to a combination of parental lines fromwhich a seed or plant having all but one, two or three physiologicaland/or morphological characteristics which are different from those ofNUN 09015 TOF can be produced or in another aspect, wherein a seed orplant having the distinguishing characteristics 1)-5) or 1)-10) of NUN09015 TOF, as herein defined, can be produced when grown under the sameenvironmental conditions. In still another aspect, the invention relatesto a combination of parental lines from which a seed or plant having allthe characteristics of NUN 09015 TOF as defined in Table 1 can beproduced when grown under the same conditions.

All documents (e.g., patent publications) are herein incorporated byreference in their entirety. Cited references:

In one embodiment of the invention, the first step in “crossing”comprises planting seeds of a first and a second parent tomato plant,often in proximity so that pollination will occur for example, mediatedby insect vectors. Alternatively, pollen can be transferred manually.Where the plant is self-pollinated, pollination may occur without theneed for direct human intervention other than plant cultivation.

Development of NUN 09015 TOF

The hybrid NUN 09015 TOF was developed from a male and femaleproprietary inbred line of Nunhems. The female and male parents werecrossed to produce hybrid (F1) seeds of NUN 09015 TOF The seeds of NUN09015 TOF can be grown to produce hybrid plants and parts thereof (e.g.tomato). The hybrid NUN 09015 TOF can be propagated by seeds orvegetative.

The hybrid variety is uniform and genetically stable. This has beenestablished through evaluation of horticultural characteristics. Severalhybrid seed production events resulted in no observable deviation ingenetic stability. Coupled with the confirmation of genetic stability ofthe female and male parents the Applicant concluded that NUN 09015 TOFis uniform and stable.

DANIELA is considered to be the most similar variety to NUN 09015 TOF.DANIELA is a commercial variety from Sakata. In Table 1 a comparisonbetween NUN 09015 TOF and DANIELA is shown based on a greenhouse trialin the USA. Trial location I: Acampo, Calif., USA (coordinates:38°192873″N 121°232637″W). Seeding date: Apr. 3, 2014. Transplantingdate: May 12, 2014. Harvest date: July, 2014.

Two replications of 50 plants each, from which 15 plants or plant partswere randomly selected, were used to measure characteristics. In Table 1the USDA descriptors of NUN 09015 TOF (this application) and referenceDANIELA (commercial variety) are listed.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a plant having the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF. A description of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of tomato variety NUN09015 TOF is presented in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Objective description of varieties NUN 09015 TOF and DANIELA NUN09015 TOF DANIELA 1. Seedling Anthocyanin in hypocotyl 2 2 1 = absent, 2= present habit of 3-4 week old seedling 1 1 1 = normal, 2 = compact 2.Mature plant Height NA NA Growth type 1 1 1 = indeterminate; 2 =determinate Form 2 2 1 = lax; 2 = normal; 3 = compact; 4 = dwarf; 5 =brachytic Size of canopy (compared to similar form) 2 2 1 = small; 2 =medium; 3 = large Habit 1 1 1 = sprawling; 2 = semi-erect; 3 = erect(Dwarf Champion) 3. Stem Branching 2 2 1 = sparse (Brehm's Solid Red;Fireball); 2 = intermediate (Westover); 3 = profuse (UC 82) Branching atcotyledon or first leafy node 2 2 1 = present; 2 = absent Number ofnodes before first inflorescence 3 3 Number of nodes between early(1^(st) to 2^(nd), 2 2 2^(nd) to 3^(rd)) inflorescence Number of nodesbetween later developing NA NA inflorescences Pubescence on youngerstems 3 2 1 = smooth (no long hairs); 2 = sparsely hairy (scattered longhairs); 3 = moderately hairy; 4 = densely hairy or wooly 4. Leaf Type: 11 1 = tomato; 2 = potato (Trip-L-Crop) Morphology (corresponding toExhibit 2 2 C illustration) Margins of major leaflets 2 2 1 = absent; 2= shallowly toothed or scalloped; 3 = deeply toothed or cut, sps.towards base Marginal rolling or wiltiness 1 1 1 = absent; 2 = slight; 3= moderate; 4 = strong Onset of leaflet rolling NA NA 1 = early-season;2 = mid-season; 3 = late-season Surface of major leaflets 2 2 1 =smooth; 2 = rogues (bumpy or veiny) Pubescence 2 2 1 = smooth (no longhairs); 2 = normal; 3 = hirsute; 4 = wooly 5. Inflorescence Type 1 1 1 =simple, 2 = forked, 3 = compound Number of flowers in inflorescence 7.7  5.87 Leafy or “running” inflorescences 1 2 1 = absent, 2 = occasional,3 = frequent 6. Flower Calyx 1 1 1 = normal, lobes awl-shaped; 2 =macrocalyx, lobes large, leaflike; 3 = fleshy Calyx-lobes NA 1 1 =shorter the corolla; 2 = approx., equaling corolla; 3 = distinctlylonger than corolla Corolla color 1 1 1 = yellow: 2 = old gold; 3 =white or tan Style pubescence 2 2 1 = absent; 2 = sparse; 3 = denseAnthers 1 1 1 = all fused into tube; 2 = separating into 2 or moregroups at anthesis Fasciation (1st flower of 2^(nd) or 3^(rd) 1 1inflorescence) 1 = absent; 2 = occasionally present; 3 = frequentlypresent 7. fruit Typical shape (corresponding to Exhibit 7 2 Cillustration of USDA Objective Description of Variety Tomato) Shape oftransverse section 1 1 1 = round; 2 = flattened; 3 = angular; 4 =irregular Shape of stem end 1 1 1 = flat; 2 = indented Shape of blossomend 3 3 1 = indented; 2 = flat; 3 = nippled; 4 = tapered Shape of pistilscar 1 1 1 = dot; 2 = stellate; 3 = linear; 4 = irregular Abscissionlayer 1 1 1 = present (pedicellate); 2 = absent (jointless) Point ofdetachment of fruit at harvest 1 1 1 = at pedicel joint; 2 = at calyxattachment Length of dedicel (from joint to 15.6 mm  13.1 calyxattachment) Length of mature fruit (stem axis)   62 mm  48.9 Diameter offruit at widest point   47 mm  57.8 Weight of mature fruit 71.3 g  92.47 Number of locules 1 2 1 = two; 2 = three or four; 3 = five ormore Fruit surface 1 1 1 = smooth; 2 = slightly rough; 3 = moderatelyrough or ribbed Fruit base color (mature-green stage) 3 3 1 = lightgreen (Lanal; VF 145-F5); 2 = light gray-green; 3 = apple or mediumgreen (Heinz 1439 VF); 4 = yellow green; 5 = dark green Fruit pattern(mature-green stage) 1  2, 1 = uniform green; 2 = green-shouldered; 3 =radial stripes on sides of fruit Shoulder color if different from baseNA 1 1 = dark green; 2 = grey green; 3 = yellow green Fruit color fullripe: 5 5 1 = white; 2 = yellow; 3 = orange; 4 = pink; 5 = red; 6 =brownish 7 = greenish; 8 = other Flesh color full ripe: 3 3 1 = yellow;2 = pink; 3 = red/crimson; 4 = orange; 5 other Flesh color: 1 1 1 =uniform; 2 = with lighter and darker areas in walls Locular gel color oftable-ripe fruit 3 3 1 = green; 2 = yellow; 3 = red Ripening 2 2 1 =blossom to stem end; 2 = uniform Ripening 2 2 1 = inside out; 2 =uniformity; 3 = outside in Stem scar size: 1 1 1 = small (Roma); 2 =medium (Rutgers); 3 = large Core: 1 1 1 = coreless (absent or smallerthan 6 × 6 mm); 2 = present Epidermis color: 2 2 1 = colorless; 2 =yellow Epidermis: 1 1 1 = normal; 2 = easy-peel Epidermis texture: 2 2 1= tender; 2 = average; 3 = tough Thickness of pericarp:  7.7 mm 7.3 mm9. Disease and Pest Reaction NA NA 1 highly resistant, 2 intermediateresistance, 3 susceptible, 4 not determined 10. Chemistry andcomposition of full-ripe NA NA fruits 11. Phenology NA NA 12. AdaptationCulture 2 2, 1 1 = field, 2 = greenhouse Principle use 2 2 5 = other(specify) Regions to which adaptation has been 9 9 demonstrated: 1 =Northeast; 2 = Mid Atlantic; 3 = Southeast; 4 Florida; 5 = Great Plains,6 = south central; 7 = Intermountain West; 8 = Northwest; 9 = California(Sacramento and Upper San Joaquin Valley); 10 = California (CoastalAreas); 11 California (Southern San Joaquin Valley & desserts)

Table 1 contains typical values. Values may vary due to environment.Other values that are substantially equivalent are also within the scopeof the invention. N.A.=not applicable; n.r.=not recorded.

DEPOSIT INFORMATION

A total of 2500 seeds of the hybrid variety NUN 09015 TOF were depositedaccording to the Budapest Treaty by Nunhems B.V. on Aug. 9, 2016, at theNCIMB Ltd., Ferguson Building, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, AberdeenAB21 9YA, United Kingdom (NCIMB). The deposit has been assigned or NCIMB42622 A deposit of NUN NUN 09015 TOF and of the male and female parentline is also maintained at Nunhems B.V. Access to the deposit will beavailable during the pendency of this application to persons determinedby the Director of the U.S. Patent Office to be entitled thereto uponrequest. Subject to 37 C.F.R. §1.808(b), all restrictions imposed by thedepositor on the availability to the public of the deposited materialwill be irrevocably removed upon the granting of the patent. The depositwill be maintained for a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the mostrecent request, or for the enforceable life of the patent whichever islonger, and will be replaced if it ever becomes nonviable during thatperiod. Applicant does not waive any rights granted under this patent onthis application or under the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 USC 2321et seq.).

What is claimed is:
 1. A plant, plant part or seed of tomato variety NUN09015 TOF, wherein a representative sample of said seed has beendeposited under Accession Number NCIMB
 42622. 2. A plant or part thereofgrown from the seed of claim
 1. 3. The plant part of claim 2, furtherdefined as a leaf, pollen, an ovule, a fruit, a scion, a rootstock,cutting, flower or a cell.
 4. A Solanum plant, or a part thereof,wherein said plant, or part thereof has all the morphological andphysiological characteristics of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF as listedin Table 1, and wherein a representative sample of seed of said varietyhas been deposited under Accession Number
 42622. 5. A tissue or cellculture of regenerable cells of the plant of claim
 2. 6. A tomato plantregenerated from the tissue or cell culture of claim 5, wherein theplant has all of the physiological and morphological characteristics ofthe plant of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF as listed in Table 1 whendetermined at the 5% significance level, and wherein a representativesample of seed of NUN 09015 TOF has been deposited under AccessionNumber
 42622. 7. A tomato plant regenerated from the tissue or cellculture of claim 5, wherein the plant has all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of the plant of tomato variety NUN 09015TOF when determined at the 5% significance level, and wherein arepresentative sample of seed of NUN 09015 TOF has been deposited underAccession Number
 42622. 8. A method of producing a plant comprisingvegetative propagating the plant, or a part thereof, of claim
 2. 9. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising regenerating a whole plant from apart of the plant of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF, wherein arepresentative sample of seed of tomato variety NUN 09015 TOF has beendeposited under Accession Number
 42622. 10. The method of claim 8,wherein said part is a cutting, a cell culture or a tissue culture. 11.A plant produced by the method of claim 8, wherein the plant has all themorphological and physiological characteristics of a plant of tomatovariety NUN 09015 TOF when determined at the 5% significance level, andwherein a representative sample of seed of said variety has beendeposited under Accession Number NCIMB
 42622. 12. A method of producinga tomato plant, comprising crossing the plant of claim 2 with a secondtomato plant one or more times, selecting progeny from said crossing,and optionally allowing the progeny to form seed.
 13. A method ofproducing a tomato plant, comprising selfing the plant of claim 2 one ormore times, selecting progeny from said selfing, and optionally allowingthe progeny to form seed.
 14. A method of introducing a desired traitinto a tomato plant comprising: a) crossing the plant of claim 2 with asecond tomato plant that comprises a desired trait to produce F1progeny; b) selecting an F1 progeny that comprises a desired trait; c)optionally selfing the F1 progeny one or more times to produce F2, F3,or further generation selfing progeny, d) crossing the selected F1progeny or the selfing progeny with the plant of claim 2 to producebackcross progeny; e) selecting backcross progeny comprising the desiredtrait and which otherwise has all the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristic of the plant of claim 2; and optionally f) repeatingsteps (d) and (e) one or more times in succession to produce selectedhigher backcross progeny that comprises the desired trait.
 15. A plantcomprising the scion or rootstock of claim 3.